Amelia Earhart pushed the boundaries in her attempt to circle the world in 1937. She was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and was a visiting faculty member at Purdue University.
Ashwati Das-Stuart spoke Wednesday night at the annual Amelia Earhart Dinner at the Paul Phillippe Resouce Center. Das-Stuart is a Ph.D Candidate in Astrodynamics Applications and member of the Purdue Mars Society.
Ashwanti was born in southwest India and selected by Zonta International to recieve an Amelia Earhart scholarship of $10,000 per year. Her Ph.D thesis explores technology and techniques to find points in space or any environment while automatically/autonomously seeking valuable information while minimizing time, distance, fuel and expense.
Das-Stuart has soloed in aircraft and has served in NASA internships and projects including the Mars Sample Return project devoted to finding, collecting and returning “soil” samples from two separate trips to the fourth planet from the sun. The Mars sample-return project does not have a launch date yet.
Frankfort Mayor Chris McBarnes attended the meeting and presented the “Frankfort Legend” Award To Zonta member and community leader Marvel Albitz for her passionate, faithful community involvement.
